One of the most popular dishes on the menu at Scarpetta by Scott Conant at The Fontainebleau is the Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce.  A seemingly simple dish, it is perfectly cooked spaghetti, gutsy tomato sauce and fresh basil.

Scarpetta Miami serves over 1000 portions of this dish a week and so when I was invited to join a small group for an intimate pasta making class with Celebrity Chef Scott Conant and Chef de Cuisine Neil O’Connell and pasta maker, Roberto Fernandez, I jumped at the opportunity to see firsthand what goes into this dish and the many other freshly made pasta dishes.

Chef Scott Conant is known for his many TV appearances on Food Network, his participation in both SOBEWFF and NYCWFF, his cookbooks and his newest restaurants, Fusco New York, The Ponte Beverly Hills, Mora Phoenix, and SC Culinary Suite, an event space and test kitchen.

Personable, with a winning smile and personality to match, Chef Conant began the class with a Prosecco toast, a smart move, as a novice pasta maker I was already feeling intimidated by the 14 different pastas displayed and the serious looking equipment lined up on a table overlooking the beach from the patio of Scarpetta.

He started by explaining the ingredients including the use of finely ground double zero flour, semolina and AVOO and the fact they offer gluten free pasta as well. Scarpetta offers pasta in many different flavors including squid ink, lobster, spinach, and explained the many steps that go into fresh pasta making.  Making the dough to just the right consistency, sending it through the pasta making machine multiple times to just the right thickness and then cutting it carefully into strips. 

We were charged with making delicate short rib and bone marrow raviolini, so after cutting the strips we had to squeeze from a pastry bag a straight line of the filling and then fold over, pinch and cut each ravioli.  We all did the best we could, but trust me…none of us will be applying to be a pasta chef anytime soon.

If you want to try your hand at this fine art of Italian food, Scarpetta will be offering a pasta making classes, launching Saturday, December 2nd. The interactive cooking class and demo will be offered the first Saturday of every month from 12 p.m. – 1:30p.m. All classes are open to adults and children 12 years old and up for $75 per person. Over the course of 90 minutes, pasta lovers will learn how to make basic dough making, tomato sauce, ravioli and spaghetti making and filling, and handling, cooking and serving of pasta. The class will finish with a tasting of the delicious dishes they handmade. Completed recipe cards for the tomato sauce and pasta dough will be provided to each guest. For additional details, visit fontainebleau.com/specials/scarpetta-pasta-class.

So after spending a good hour cutting and stuffing the raviolini, and going through a few bottles of Prosecco, we were rewarded with a delicious multi-course dinner on new Fall menu items added to the Scarpetta menu including:

Roasted Diver Scallops with Spiced Butternut Squash Purée, Pickled Pears and Chicken Jus,

Ricotta Raviolini with Pumpkin Purée, Crispy Sage and Pumpkin Seeds,

Prawns with Saffron Potatoes, Burro Composto and Roasted Filone,

Kurobuta Pork Chop with Roasted Vegetables, Black Garlic and Lentil Jus.

And Scarpetta’s always delicious desserts like Bruleed Lemon Tart, Tiramesu, and Pumpkin Profiteroles with Pumpkin Gelato and Spiced Chocolate “Soup”.

A Fall visit to Scarpetta should be on everyone’s list, whether for Pasta Making or Pasta Eating.

And stop by Sorso by Scarpetta before dinner for inventive cocktails. Several cold-brew infusions are offered daily as well as the opportunity to create your own bespoke cocktail from house-infused spirits, shrubs and syrups. Chef Conant has devised a bar menu of snacks and light bites including, Scarpetta Stromboli with caponata, spiced almonds and wild mushroom arancini with truffle oil, and an Antipasti Board with selections of salami and cheese. Snacks and bites range from $6-$18. All cocktails are $17, except at Social Hour – each day from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., during which cocktails are $12.

Scarpetta by Scott Conant  

The Fontainebleau

4441 Collins Ave.

Miami Beach, FL

(877) 326 7412